DWF has advised Hydes Brewery Limited on its acquisition of Chester-based pub company Woodward & Falconer Pubs Co. Ltd.

The DWF team, led by Frank Shephard and Darren Ormsby and assisted by Nick Hawthorne and Matt Judge in the corporate team with support from Alasdair Mackinnon (banking) and David Frankland (real estate), advised on the deal to acquire a portfolio of four pubs - supporting Hydes Brewery Limited’s strategy to grow market share within its food-led destination business.

The acquisition will increase opportunities for staff across all four sites, promote learning and improvement within the business and result in enhanced buying terms. It will also provide a platform for further acquisitions of food-led businesses.

Woodward & Falconer was founded in 2001 and has built up a group of six high quality food-led pubs located in Chester, the Wirral and North Wales. The deal will include four sites, The Goshawk and The Stamford Bridge near Chester, The Boathouse in Neston and The Golden Lion near Wrexham, with the remaining two pubs being extracted from the company to be retained by two companies owned by the vendors.

Frank Shephard, corporate partner at DWF, said: “We were delighted to advise Hydes Brewery on the significant acquisition that will further enhance its food-led destination business and deliver cost efficiencies across its growing portfolio of 11 food-led sites. We have a great corporate team in place with key expertise within the food and hospitality sector, and we look forward to working with Hydes in the future.”

Hydes Brewery’s managing director Chris Hopkins commented: “This exciting acquisition represents an excellent strategic move for the business. We very much look forward to working with the highly capable teams at all four pubs as we continue to develop our food-led business”.

DWF’s 60-strong national corporate team was recently ranked one of the UK’s most active in the first half of the year, acting on a total of 58 transactions. The northwest based team has recently advised Wealth at Work on the acquisition of Newport-based Life Academy and leading UK sports distributor Avocet Sports Limited in connection with the buyout by Hero Cycles.